abc* Continuity Forum brings social entrepreneurs, world experts together

Verengai Mabika of the Development Reality Institute in Zimbabwe is among the social entrepreneurs presenting at The abc* Continuity Forum at the New World Center on Miami Beach on Wednesday. Photos by Patrick Farrell of the Miami Herald.

By Nancy Dahlberg, ndahlberg@miamiherald.com

Arianna Huffington says it’s not only about focusing media
coverage on what’s broken.

“We have a huge
responsibility to focus on what isworking and how we can scale the good things that
are working,” the president and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media
Group told a crowd of several hundred people attending the Americas Business
Council Continuity Forum on Wednesday.

What began as a purely
news and politics site, the Huffington Post quickly evolved and expanded.
Speaking on the future of media, Huffington said, “The era of the exclusive is
over — media’s role is to tell us what millions of people see, hear, believe,
and that can range from coverage of the Arab Spring to putting the spotlight on
what is working in our communities,” she said. Noting that we are moving from a
model of presentation to a model of participation, she added, “consuming news
means sharing it. ... The creativity of this is the
future.”

Huffington said after the Huffington Post launched “What
is Working,” that area quickly became one of the most successful not only among
readers but in terms of monetization. “It’s not just good for the world, it’s
good for business,” added Huffington.

Huffington also talked about her entrepreneurial journey,
how multiple failures paved the way for every success, and how you can’t listen
to “the obnoxious roommate” in your head. Preaching about the power of a good
night’s sleep and that multitasking can be hazardous to your health, “modern
technologies can help us tremendously if we are not their slaves,” she said.

Now in its third year, the two-day homegrown abc*
Continuity Forum, being held at the New World Center in Miami Beach in
partnership with the global social entrepreneurship organization Ashoka, brings
together high-profile speakers like Huffington passionately addressing social
challenges across the Americas — from community building to poverty, food
security and the war on drugs. The program includes presentations from 21
social entrepreneurs, all Ashoka fellows, and more than a dozen featured
speakers, including Larry Summers, Buzz Aldrin, David Axelrod and Jane Goodall.

Founded by Poder Magazine and Latin American business and
media leaders including Emilio Azcárraga, chairman and CEO of Grupo Televisa in
2008, the abc* Foundation aims to identify, replicate and scale innovative
global solutions to social and environmental challenges facing the Americas.

“The Americas Business Council Continuity Forum provides a
unique platform to discover and invest in innovative social and environmental
projects,” said Camilo Galvis, executive director of the abc* Foundation. “With
hands-on help from abc*, the initiatives will have the capacity to be scaled up
or replicated to achieve specific objectives with measurable goals that help
solve critical challenges in the Americas.”

Three promising ideas from the 21 presenting entrepreneurs
will receive $100,000 each to help with financing, hands-on advising and
operating expenses. Hopefuls included Flor Cassassuce of Grupo Eoz, a nonprofit
that develops and distributes water purifiers to rural areas in Mexico. It has
recently added a for-profit arm to distribute purifiers in urban areas, too.
Francesco Piazzesi of Echale a tu Casa provides homes through revolving Social
Financial Housing Funds, similar to little banks. Through the program started
in Mexico
and being replicated in other countries, “we have provided almost a million
people with housing solutions,” he said.

Some of the solutions were surprisingly simple. How about
a label that can change the world, asked Mitch Hedlund of Recycle Across
America — and now Recycle Across the World. Recycling is as much an economic as
an environmental solution, but the current system isn’t working, she said,
providing evidence showing how common labels could wipe out the confusion. A
key to her organization’s success is getting celebrities behind the campaign,
she said..

Environmental legends Jane Goodall and Sylvia Earle (pictured here) discussed the past and future of the conservation movement. While the state of
the movement seems dire, “what gives me hope is gatherings like this, business
leaders talking about this,” Goodall said. “You can’t just look at the sky and
say, ‘Woe is me,’ you have to soak it up ... and use your passion to make this
world a better place,” Earle added.

Jeffrey Hollender, co-founder and former CEO of Seventh
Generation — maker of hundreds of environmentally friendly household products —
says businesses, including his own creations, have to think much more
holistically. “We have confused ‘good’ with ‘less bad.’ A baby diaper can’t be
good. Recycled paper towels are less bad but not good,” he said, using products
of the company he founded as examples. “We support things that are less bad
rather then trying to find large-scale sustainable solutions. ... Incremental
change is no longer good enough.”

Hollender, who started his first social enterprise when he
was 19, has recently launched a new company with his daughter. Sustain Condoms
will offer the first non-toxic, fair-trade, sustainable condom, he said.

“I love to have businesses ask themselves, ‘What does the
world most need that my business is uniquely able to provide?’ I think if
corporations asked that question we would end up with very different
businesses,” he said.

The conference continues Thursday with more presentations
from social entrepreneurs and talks by Aldrin, Summers, Axelrod and others.